France

20th April 2017

France is facing its most uncertain presidential elections in decades. The outcome is likely to have a material impact not only at geopolitical level, but also in terms of energy policy. The next French president will be the first since Jacques Chirac to open a new nuclear power plant. That person will also need to decide the future of France’s oldest reactors, now approaching the end of 40-year life-spans. EDF’s program to extend reactor operation – the ‘Grand Carenage’ – is hugely expensive, but the alternative of closures would hardly be cheap, with impacts on security of supply, power price, cross-border flows and France’s carbon footprint.

Clients have included Greenpeace, Nuclear Free Local Authorities, WWF Scotland and the UK Government’s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management.

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